Asked multiple times Friday about the availability of his top back, the Wolverines' second-year assistant stayed silent.

"I'm taking the fifth," Borges said. "That's Brady deal."

Borges said he and Michigan head coach Brady Hoke have discussed whether or not Toussaint will be available when the Wolverines open the 2012 season against Alabama on Saturday, but added nothing more.

Asked whether or not Toussaint's possible absence and the subsequent introduction of Thomas Rawls would alter his game plan for the Crimson Tide, Borges said that yes, it might.

Slightly.

"(There would be some subtle changes), yeah, but not a gross difference or departure from what we are," Borges said. "Occasionally there's a (slight change to the game plan), but we are what we are, and we pretty much go to the next guy.

"You can't re-structure. ... But if one guy has a certain talent that another kid doesn't, then we'll try to explore that a little bit more."

With one week remaining before the season-opener, Borges said the reps at running back have been split relatively evenly throughout the team's stable of backs. Freshman Dennis Norfleet has taken snaps, as has redshirt freshman Justice Hayes.

But the main running backs in Michigan's conversation right now seem to be Toussaint, Rawls and senior Vincent Smith -- with Smith serving more of a third-down role.

It'll likely be Rawls or Toussaint lining up as the featured back for the Wolverines in one week, and whoever gets the call, Borges says he'll be ready to adapt.

"They're just different styles of runners," he said. "You've got one kid that's more of a battering ram with Thomas, and then you've got Fitz who is a little more stop and go. With lateral quickness, and he plays the game a little different."

If Toussaint doesn't play, Rawls will likely have to find running room against one of the top defenses in the country during his first real dose of extended playing time.

The coaching staff continues to insist he's ready if needed, and that he's coming along just as quickly as Toussaint did last season.

"He's getting better all the time," Borges said of Rawls. "And that's all just reps. When I first got here with Fitz, Fitz was struggling. Particularly when we lined him up in the home position of our two-back runs, because he hadn't done a lot of it.

"But once he ran the plays more and more, it came around. Thomas is in the process of doing the same thing."